Huffington Post partners with Center For Public Integrity to create one of the largest investigative newsrooms in U.S.

The Huffington Post and the Center for Public Integrity have joined forces to create what they’re billing as “one of the largest investigative newsrooms” in the United States.

The Huffington Post will merge its non-profit journalism division, The Huffington Post Investigative Fund, into the Center for Public Integrity. The aim is to strengthen digital delivery of nonpartisan investigative journalism.

“I’m delighted about this new partnership,” Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post and chair of the Fund’s board, said in a news release. “When we launched the Huffington Post Investigative Fund a year and a half ago, we set out to build a hybrid model for the future of investigative journalism — aligning a nonprofit journalism center with a large publishing platform. It exceeds all our expectations that we are so quickly able to scale up our small investigative fund by merging with a powerhouse like the Center. Too often, important stories are only covered after things go bad, as happened with the war in Iraq and the economic crisis. We need more stories uncovered before disaster strikes. I believe this partnership will help with this great project of uncovering.”

Under the unified umbrella the two organizations’ staff will be merged, bringing the total number of employees to 50. The companies say the new combined editorial team offer a unique mix of journalists, computer-aided reporting experts and digital media producers.

“We are delighted to bring the Investigative Fund under the Center’s umbrella,” said The Center for Public Integrity’s Executive Director William Buzenberg. “This represents a healthy marriage of reporting resources that will strengthen our ability to generate high-impact, independent and unbiased investigations and reach a broader audience.”

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will contribute a $250,000 grant to the Center to support the new news operation. The foundation is a current founder of both the Center for Public Integrity and The Huffington Post Investigative Fund.

The Knight Foundation recently committed $1.7 million to the Center specifically to expand its digital media platforms.